Cherokee County Formalizes Plan For Canton Fire Consolidation

Despite the majority of the Canton City Council opposing consolidating fire services with Cherokee County, leaders with the county government are still not ready to give up on striking a deal. 

Cherokee County Manager Jerry Cooper on Friday released two documents, a proposed ordinance and a proposed agreement, that spell out what consolidating means for both sides. 

The proposal calls for the county to construct a new fire station near the Laurel Canyon and Great Sky neighborhoods along Highway 140 and another near Commerce Boulevard and Highway 140, which would be near the replacement Northside Hospital-Cherokee facility.

The county would then transfer its staffing and equipment from Station 9 to the new station near the two neighborhoods and from Station 3 to the one near the new hospital.  

If the agreement and ordinance are approved, the county would like to complete construction on the station near Laurel Canton in 2014 and the one replacing near the new hospital in 2015.

Cooper said there's no timeline in place to implement the proposal, which he said was developed after a year of consulting with Cherokee County Fire Chief Tim Prather and the County Commission. 

Under the proposal, consolidation would also mean: 

• The city would pay the county the amount that equals the county's 3.394 fire district millage rate it charges to residents in unincorporated Cherokee County.
• Existing city of Canton Fire Department employees would become county employees, and Canton Fire Chief Dean Floyd would become a member of Prather's executive staff; Floyd would also serve as a liaison between canton city leaders and staff.
• Canton would agree to transfer $500,000 from its Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, 2012 program, and any impact fees collected towards fire services. This money would be used towards the design and construction costs for the station near Laurel Canyon. 
• the county would provide a credit to the city that would offset the city's operating costs for capital assets.

Cherokee County has a similar agreement with the city of Holly Springs.

The proposal from the county bypasses the question of senior homestead exemptions and whether the county would be able to continue granting the exemptions to current Canton homeowners if consolidation were to happen.  

The proposed ordinance comes on the heels of Canton residents rejecting the fire bond referendum. Since the referendum failure, the Canton City Council has voted to hire an outside firm to perform a fire services study. 

See the attached .PDFs to read both the proposed agreement and ordinance. 

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